“I’m not sure. But trust me when I tell you that Iwillbe finding out. And once I do, they will all be apologizing to your sweet Millie for their behavior.”
“I appreciate you, Catharina. Thank you for taking care of my Little girl.”
“Of course. That’s what family does.”
Donovan’s hands go still. “Family.” He says the word slowly, like it’s foreign to him.
And perhaps it is. In all the time I worked for him, I don’t remember ever hearing him discuss his family. Or really his personal life at all.
“Yes.” Auntie Cat’s voice rings with conviction. “You and Millie are ours now. We’ll have to discuss when to schedule your family dinner, but even if we have to wait to make it official, you’re family.”
Pulling the nearly empty bottle from my mouth, Auntie Cat uses a napkin to swipe at the corners of my lips. “Feeling better, little one?”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
“Such a polite Little girl.” She taps my nose lightly before looking up at Donovan. “I imagine your Daddy is eager to get you home so you can take a nap. You’ve had such a long day already, haven’t you, sweetheart?”
Practically on cue, a yawn tickles my throat. “Yes, Ma’am,” I reply as Donovan scoops me up out of her arms so I can wrap myself around him. Tired as I am, I can’t even summon theenergy to fight my need for comfort. Clinging tightly to him, I drop my head to his shoulder and close my eyes. He bounces lightly, rubbing slow circles over my back while he talks in hushed tones with Auntie Cat.
I don’t want it to feel so good. Sorightto be held like this. Especially by Donovan Graves. But it does, god, it really does. For the first time since I found myself in his nursery, he actually feels like the person he’s proclaimed himself to be this whole time.
He feels like…Daddy.
And maybe it’s the exhaustion, maybe it’s the ache deep in my heart. Whatever it is, I finally give in.
“Daddy, I wanna go home.”
The bouncing stops, followed by a long, strained silence before he speaks. And when he does, his voice is strained and his arms tighten around me.
“All right, sunshine. Daddy will take you home.”
Donovan
Daddy. Hearing that word from my Little girl’s lips without me forcing her to say it is even sweeter than I expected it to be. My chest aches knowing that she only said it because she was hurting so badly, and yet, I can’t help but replay that moment over and over in my mind.
Even in the car she’s still clinging to me, her soft sniffles punctuating the silence every so often. I was tempted to tell the driver to take us straight to the school so I could give the other girls a damn good talking to. But Cat promised she’d take careof it, and I happen to know she can wield a hairbrush like it’s nobody’s business.
So I have to trust it’s being handled, that my…familyhas my babygirl’s best interests at heart. Keeping that in mind, I resist the urge to go defend her honor and take her straight home instead.
Unsurprisingly, she’s asleep on my shoulder before I even get her upstairs to her nursery. Tucking her into bed, I press a kiss to her flushed, tear-stained cheek before heading down to my office with a quick detour to grab the monitor from my bedroom.
I do my best to distract myself with emails and the other drudgery Camilla used to handle for me before she turned in her resignation, including the two resumes Maxwell has forwarded me. One woman and one man, both of whom are Littles and both of whom seem as though they’d be more than qualified, at least on paper.
But I don’t feel any push to contact either of them for an interview. I know I need to, as even a practice as small as mine needs at least one nurse on staff, especially in the event of emergencies. The thought of going into work every day, though, and seeing someone who isn’t Camilla sitting behind the front desk…
Filing the resumes away for later, when I’m not feeling so emotional, I pick up my phone and press a button to call Maxwell. Hopefully he’s had enough time to deal with his wayward Little girl and I won’t be interrupting anything.
“Donovan. I was hoping you’d call.”
He almost sounds relieved. “Yes, well. I want to talk to you about this morning.”
“It’s been handled. By myself and by Cat. Unfortunately for our Little ones, she got to the school before we did and made good use of the hairbrush she keeps in her purse. Apparently your little Millie made quite the impression on her. Victoria willbe over this afternoon for what had better be a very sincere apology if she knows what’s good for her.”
“Good. I admit, I expected that kind of behavior from Juliet, perhaps even Natalie, but Victoria and Isabella surprised me.”
“Natalie? No, she was the only one who wasn’t mean to Millie.” He laughs, a deep rumbling chuckle. “Luckily for her, she was able to show Cat the bracelet she made because Millie dropped it on her way out. Otherwise, she would be napping with a sore bottom with the rest of them.”
An odd tightness wraps around my chest. Natalie has been difficult from the moment she arrived on the island, but knowing she showed my Little girl such kindness does alter my opinion of her a good bit. “Well… I appreciate it, either way. Do you have any idea what got into them? I got most of the story from Cat, but I’m still not sure why they did what they did.”
